Pelosi’s painful performance

Re “Pelosi denies being informed about waterboarding,” May 14, and “Pelosi’s predicament,” editorial,

May 18

Nancy Pelosi has succeeded beyond all expectations in disgracing herself by continuing her attack on the Bush administration and the CIA, despite an ever-growing mountain of evidence against her.

Her recent news conference was just a reminder that those who tell the truth have no need to “consult their notes,” as their answer is always consistent.

She is as bad a liar as she is a speaker of the House.

Steve Ackerman

Granada Hills

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As any young lawyer knows, and any experienced journalist should know, the answer, “It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress,” is not the same as “the CIA did not do it.”

Could someone ask the question again?

Susan Field

Los Angeles

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Pelosi missed a great opportunity to show integrity. If she had said, “I didn’t pay attention. I failed to probe more deeply. I went along with the majority, and I made a mistake. I’m sorry,” all this bad publicity would have evaporated.

Instead, she chose to waffle, evade, produce multiple excuses and blame the CIA. In the end, our speaker proves to be yet another run-of-the-mill political hack.

David H. Wallace

Newport Beach

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The Democrats might want to reconsider having a person of Pelosi’s character occupying this most powerful seat.

Congress, the lawmaking body, has oversight responsibility, which is why members were briefed on methods of harsh interrogation. If top-secret intelligence activities were questionable, then Congress should have withheld funding, demanding further legal review.

So if criminality is determined, then Pelosi will have been a primary participant, as she was representing the duties of Congress in those briefings.

Victor Kodiac

Marina del Rey

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Let’s be more genteel with Pelosi now. She’s not a liar but merely acting like a typical compulsive politician -- illiterate of the truth.

Ray Pezzoli Jr.

Avila Beach

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Simple question: Whom do you believe, Nancy Pelosi or Karl Rove and Dick Cheney? Given the obfuscation of truth that permeated government for the last eight years, I’d say the question’s a no-brainer.

Scott W. Hughes

Simi Valley